There is no God

Elsewhere

(Go to the website and you can hear a recording of him reading his essay)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5015557

by Penn Jillette

Morning Edition, November 21, 2005 · I believe that there is no God. I'm beyond Atheism. Atheism is not believing in God. Not believing in God is easy -- you can't prove a negative, so there's no work to do. You can't prove that there isn't an elephant inside the trunk of my car. You sure? How about now? Maybe he was just hiding before. Check again. Did I mention that my personal heartfelt definition of the word "elephant" includes mystery, order, goodness, love and a spare tire?

So, anyone with a love for truth outside of herself has to start with no belief in God and then look for evidence of God. She needs to search for some objective evidence of a supernatural power. All the people I write e-mails to often are still stuck at this searching stage. The Atheism part is easy.

But, this "This I Believe" thing seems to demand something more personal, some leap of faith that helps one see life's big picture, some rules to live by. So, I'm saying, "This I believe: I believe there is no God."

Having taken that step, it informs every moment of my life. I'm not greedy. I have love, blue skies, rainbows and Hallmark cards, and that has to be enough. It has to be enough, but it's everything in the world and everything in the world is plenty for me. It seems just rude to beg the invisible for more. Just the love of my family that raised me and the family I'm raising now is enough that I don't need heaven. I won the huge genetic lottery and I get joy every day.

Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around.

Believing there's no God stops me from being solipsistic. I can read ideas from all different people from all different cultures. Without God, we can agree on reality, and I can keep learning where I'm wrong. We can all keep adjusting, so we can really communicate. I don't travel in circles where people say, "I have faith, I believe this in my heart and nothing you can say or do can shake my faith." That's just a long-winded religious way to say, "shut up," or another two words that the FCC likes less. But all obscenity is less insulting than, "How I was brought up and my imaginary friend means more to me than anything you can ever say or do." So, believing there is no God lets me be proven wrong and that's always fun. It means I'm learning something.

Believing there is no God means the suffering I've seen in my family, and indeed all the suffering in the world, isn't caused by an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent force that isn't bothered to help or is just testing us, but rather something we all may be able to help others with in the future. No God means the possibility of less suffering in the future.

Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-o and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have.

stillAwitness

I loved it. Its so poignant with where I am at this point in my life. I can't say i don't believe in God but in my world he just does not exsist to me right now. I know he's there but I just can't handle God and all the rights and wrongs, lefts and rights that come with him.

I need clarity and God seems to mess that up for me.

Does that make sense?

stillAwitness

How do you do a link? I want to email it to a friend?

Elsewhere

How do you do a link? I want to email it to a friend?

Just highlight the link, copy and then paste it into your email.

RevFrank

I headed to the link and heard it myself. It was good, but when you think about it, it leads to the question of faith.

What is faith? According to scripture, it's a substance, yet unseen. Yet having faith doesn't mean for some to say, "Just shut-up," as Teller said. Faith is something that one knews that is greater then him or herself. Haing faith is the ultimate in knowing one requires to give all of himself, or herself to a bigger understanding of who is the more ultimate understanding of how truth speaks of what it is.

To say, "I have faith in God," is knowing that God will take care of whatever life has to give and God gives all. Doesn't mean that when hard times come I need to give up. When hard times come I'm required to more more carefully so I can actually see God in motion in life. Yet it doesn't mean I need to stand still. It requires patience so one can hear the voice of God. Faith.....either you have it or you don't. There's no middle of the road here. And to hope, it requires having faith knowing that faith fulfills all questions.

It's easier to say no to faith. Why? Because no means to stop. And to say yes to faith..that means hard work and it requires patience to the final finish. Faith may take a life time..but again, no means you needn't work at it.

gumby

That's his opinion only. He might not like Corona beer.....but I do.

Seriously, I can't be content as he is not knowing how life began and if we contiue after death. Ghost and spirit stories, unexplained mysteries, stuff we do not understand......still makes some wonder if there is more to life than his ideas.

Btw, my wifey and I saw those two in Vegas and got to meet and talk to both of them after their show. Two neat guys. Penn is extreemly intelligent and the little guy really does talk........he was a kick.

Gumby

Double Edge

Believing there's no God stops me from being solipsistic.

I have a hard time believing in someone who would use the word "solipsistic" ...

sol·ip·sism n. Philosophy

The theory that the self is the only thing that can be known and verified.
The theory or view that the self is the only reality.

Interesting article, yet like the old saying goes.... "Opinions - everyone has them"

gumby

sol·ip·sism n. Philosophy

The theory that the self is the only thing that can be known and verified.

The theory or view that the self is the only reality.

I'll bet anyone 3 bucks James Thomas shows up.

Double Edge

The theory that the self is the only thing that can be known and verified.

The theory or view that the self is the only reality.

I'll bet anyone 3 bucks James Thomas shows up.

LOL....

Nate Merit

Hey Elsewhere

Love that Alfalfa icon. Speaking of Alfalfa, did you know that burning alfalfa smells exactly like burning marijuana?

I did the atheism tango for over a decade as a Buddhist. It was an easy position to maintain intellectually, but difficult to maintain spiritually. I do not have 'faith' in some personal God that is obviously wishful thinking on the part of some very infantile adults. I intensely dislike the word 'God' because of it's anthropomorphic associations, as well as the slathering evil that god and his worshippers commit.

That said, meditating a couple of hours a day for several decades will cause many changes in one's awareness. Like Penn, I do not believe in a loving caring personal God. Yet I accept the reality of a Source, a Ground of Being, immanent-transcendent-incarnate.

Can I prove this scientifically? Of course not. However, I can prove, from personal experience, that atheism is nilhilism and a killer of the human spirit, every bit as much as belief in a personal God is ultimately enslaving and dehumanizing. Great works of art and music were not inspired by unbelief. The human brain is hard-wired for spiritual experiences.

I do not have a good word to encapsulate my experience. They remain subjective experiences, but experiences anyone can share if they put in the time and effort. Thats the catch. Time and effort. The spiritual quest is precisely that, a quest. It isn't simple and easy, despite the claims of loud fundanentalists.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Nate

There is no God - An essay by Penn Jillette (From Penn and Teller)

There Is No God

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